


Unscathed

by Solemnly_Swear



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Coming of Age, Gen, Paladins, Personal Growth, Self-Discovery, War, World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 04:08:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19822216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solemnly_Swear/pseuds/Solemnly_Swear





	Unscathed

It had happened once before...

_"Look...out!" the soldier Lorailyn was tending screamed as loudly as a man touched by death could scream. She abruptly turned her gaze to the west, catching sight of a flash of red charging toward them. Instinctively, she knew it was another Horde barbarian - what other red-clad assassin would a nearly empty encampment of wounded?_

_She grabbed the first thing she could find - a battered, soot-stained shield laying on the ground just within arm's reach. There was probably a story behind the shield that so mirrored the wounds of the man desperately clinging to life beside her, but there wasn't time to ask. She lifted the shield into the air above them, feeling the weight of it fighting back against her. Rai felt weak. Inadequate. She hadn't trained for this. But she believed she could. She believed with everything she had that she would save this man - and herself - by holding up a shield against their attacker._

_Peering just past the edge of the shield, she winced and prepared for the weight of the hulking, roaring, man-in-red to fall upon her. But...his weight never came._

_She opened her eyes just in time to stare in disbelief at what transpired. The shield...it suddenly felt weightless and flash of light radiated from it, knocking their attacker back so forcefully he fell on his back several yards away. The ground rumbled as he landed, enough for her to feel vibrations of shockwaves beneath her knees. The woman stilled in disbelief, silently waiting. She didn't dare hope she'd someone bested a figure easily three times her size, yet the moments ticked by and he didn't move. As she stared at him she could almost see a light leaving him, as if the glow created by the shield was slowly dissipating._

_The moments became longer and she again strained against the weight of the shield. This time she didn't fight back. The Horde assassin was dead - she was sure of it. With no need more need of the shield, Lorailyn lowered it back to the ground. She released it delicately, as if it were something far more precious than it appeared. Sun-darkened fingers traced the edge of it in the sort of caress meant for a lover. Her fingertips held a conversation with the shield, wondering if perhaps she could entice it to reveal its secrets to her._

_"Its..not the..shield," the man whispered as if he could read her thoughts._

_"What?" Rai asked as she quickly withdrew her hand, turning her attention back to the green-eyed soldier who now lay beneath her. Somewhere in the process of grabbing the shield to protect them she had wound up straddling him, but it was only now that it felt awkward. Nervously, she stood up and brushed her hands off on her dusty pants, gazing off into the distance pretending to be looking for any more signs of danger._

_"Miss. I mean...no offense," the soldier coughed out, "but I...saw...what you...did."_

_"I did nothing," Lorailyn nearly snapped._

...but now it had happened again. Perhaps the soldier with eyes that could match Viridium had been right. Maybe it _was_ her and not the shield.

This time it was different. She'd been traipsing through a valley in search of herbs. Her supplies were running low and she hadn't had time to travel into Boralus - or back home - to purchase any. Gathering was easy enough. It was almost enjoyable - therapeutic even. She'd been humming to herself, surrounded by the songs of birds and the scuttling sound of rabbits, squirrels, and other small creatures. She'd even dared, for just a few moments, to forget she was living amidst a war.

This time it was different. The rogue attacker was on her before she knew it, coming up out of the shadows at her back. She felt a woman's figure press against her. Lithe and willowy - smelling of flowers so sweet they must be poisonous. It was an elf. She knew that as surely as she knew the dagger pressed against her throat would kill her in a heartbeat. But it didn't pierce her right away. It lingered, like the intoxicating scent that clung to the woman.

The elf wanted something. That's the only reason a cold-hearted killer would hesitate. Lorailyn's mind had gone through her inventory, wondering if she had anything to save herself. The herbs in her pack were useless. The small knife she used the whittle them off their stalks would hardly counter any real assault. The sword she barely knew how to use hung at her waist, trapped by the fiercely strong grasp of the elven woman.

"What do you want?" Rai whispered, having no clue if the elf could even understand Common.

The elf laughed. Hysterically, maniacally. A sound that will certainly haunt Lorailyn's dreams for years to come.

Fear welled up within Rai and, with it, desperation. She would _not_ die at the hands of an elf. She wouldn't! She reached toward her sword and, while she could not quite grasp it, she felt something shift in the air around her. She grew warm and a bright light pressed into all her senses. It was a light so strong she could see it, feel it, hear it, and even taste it. It was around her - it _was_ her.

Just as quickly as it had come, it was gone. With it, the weight of the elf fell off her, crumbling to the ground in a heap. Only then was Lorailyn able to turn around and stare at her face to face.

This time it was different. The elf wasn't dead, but it was evident she was in a great deal of pain and probably even more shock. "P-please...don't...kill me," she begged as she scrambled to her knees and began crawling away from Lorailyn.

Rai wanted to laugh. Here was a woman who could easily kill her begging Lorailyn to spare her life. Sure, she could kill the woman with a swift plunge of her sword. But the terror on the woman's face spoke a fear deeper than a sword could bring. She was scared of Lorailyn Kelsey herself.

Lorailyn didn't kill her. She couldn't. Instead, she turned on her heels and walked away unscathed, trying to figure out what had happened. She kept replaying the previous incident in her mind, comparing it over and over to this one. It was the same...but different. The similarities all pointed to one thing - a thing which made her both elated and fearful.

"By the Light," the chestnut-haired young woman spoke as she sank down to her knees in a field full of wildflowers. Why here? Why now? Better yet... _how?_ She had answers to none of those questions - not yet - but she somehow knew that the Light must be praised for coming to her desperate aid not once, but twice.


End file.
